February 10th, 2014

Hello! I decided to send mostly voice notes, so I will just give you the highlights:

- We did baptisms for the dead with Serena last week and it was so great. She was baptized for her grandma who just died a few years ago and she was wearing her ring when she was in the font. Such a sacred experience.

-We set 2 people for baptism this week and found some great new investigators! We are really excited :)

-I was called to be a Sister Training Leader (kind of like Zone Leader, but for sisters) It means I'll go on a ton of exchanges next transfer. I was able to attend Mission Leadership Council then give a training at Zone Conference on "Making Miracles Happen." It really pumped me up and now I am have such a stronger desire to WORK.

-The Cazier family (who I talked about last week) came to church! It was a HUGE deal- the 18 yr old son hadn't been in forever, and he is now working with the Bishop to be able to baptize his girlfriend.

February 3rd, 2014

I can't believe dad was released!!

This is crazy. It will be weird coming home to a new bishop, but I am sure Bishop Sorenson will be great. I'm calling Dad being called as ward mission leader. Or Mission President. Probably the latter. 

This has been a great week! We have loved being out on bikes- no one can see you in a car and you don't talk to anyone. Bikes= miracle machines. Sister Onorato is doing a great job inviting everyone to be baptized in the first couple lessons (the responsibility of the trainee). Unfortunately, it means everyone tells us their real concerns and we have been dropping people like crazy. Which is sad, but needs to be done. I love telling people where the BOM came from- so many people think it is a book Joseph Smith wrote that tells us all our rules and what we can and can't eat. We are teaching an elderly couple who I LOVE and they are from upstate New York, have been to the sacred grove, and still didn't know anything about it. 

Serena is doing great. She just got her temple recommend so we are going to do baptisms hopefully this Saturday. She already has a whole pile of names she wants done. The stake president asked her to speak at stake conference and give her conversion story. She is scared out of her mind but is excited to share her story. And yes, you know you've been in an area for too long when you will be there for two stake conferences. 

I sent a voice recording of a lesson we had yesterday- let me know if you didn't get it. Training is one of the hardest things i've ever had to do, but I love it and am growing every day. I have been able to see how trials in the past have prepared me for this, and I am grateful for them. 

Last week, we (as a zone) played dart wars. Best invention ever. We took pvc pipe and blew nerf darts out of it at eachother. We played in the chapel and set up tables on their sides as shields- we had wayyyy to much fun and played for close to 3 hours. We couldn't hardly walk down the stairs the next day though because we were so sore. It was basically 3 hours of squats. Haha. We are playing when I get home. 

LOVE YOU!! Sorry not much exciting happened this week- just saving souls!

Sister Stoker

 

Me and Sister Onorato

Lucio. Love him

January 27th, 2014

Hello! We have had quite an exciting week and yet I sort of feel like nothing happened. We found 5 new investigators though so I guess something did. There are way too many people to teach out here I love it. We went to the temple this week with all the new missionaries and I was just a big cry baby. Watch out the mission is bringing out sides of me I didn't even know existed. But I forgot how much power we really do receive as we make those covenants and I had so many prayers answered. Although the prayer to get more miles on our car was not one of the ones answered. We are still biking all day everyday. What a dream. 

We had a lesson with a new investigator last week that was a big surprise. We have been teaching her boyfriend and we were under the impression that she was a member but just less active. Well we had a lesson with just her and found out she was never actually baptized- she just went to church as a young women. She now prays to a cat Goddess and says she gets her answers. Another investigator told us his dad thinks he is Jesus and that San Francisco is the next Noah's Arc and will break off and the rest of the world will be flooded. OH and we met a guy who thought I was the actor P!nk when we were talking to him. I'm telling you this place is crazy. And I fit in so well. 

We have loved working with the ward here- I am so glad to hear you have a good relationship with the missionaries back home. Try to keep it that way- it makes things so much better. Especially since Dad is the Bishop- I wish our recent converts knew the Bishop better. We still love having members invite our investigators or recent converts to dinner when we come, so I hope you can still implement that. We have been praying about "inspired fellowship" lately so we can have those we bring to lessons be the perfect friends with our investigators. It has worked miracles. We are teaching 12 households right now and they all have a friend in the ward. Oh and they all live in real houses. About 5 months ago everyone we taught lived in apartment complexes. It's a big deal. We brought a couple to meet some investigators last week and it was perfect- they got along so great. Afterward, we were walking back to the car (my comp and I were on splits so it was just them and me) and I went to open my door and the Brother slammed it shut and scolded me. He then opened my door for me and told me I am a lady and should never open my door. I got a little teary eyed (told you this mission is turning me into a baby)- it is so weird how sometimes after a long day of rejections and disrespect I forget that there are people like that. He reminds me a lot of Dad.

I love you all and I love this gospel! Thanks for being the best :)

Sista Stoker